Take-up for knitting machines



u y 92 w. L. SMITH, JR.

UP FOR KNITTING MACHINES TAKE- Original Filed Oct. '7, 1924 gnuenkox WiuiamLSmithJr attonwu til Patented July 23, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM L. SMITH, JR., OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR TO MAY HOSIERY MILLS, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, A CORPORATION OF TENNESSEE.

TAKE-UP FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

Application filed October 7, 1924, Serial No. 742,238. Renewed December 11, 1928.

My said invention relates to a take-up for knitting machines intended primarily for use in such rib knitting machines as are adapted for making plain and rib fabric in succession with heel and toe pockets at appropriate intervals to form stockings the use of the device however not being limited to rib machines nor to the knitting of stockings. It is an object of the invention to provide a take-up which when used for the purpose indicated shall maintain a uniform tension on the fabric at the verge of the needle cylinder during the knitting of the plain foot portion and particularly while the heel and toe are knitted and immediately thereafter.

Various attempts have hitherto been made to provide take-ups for use with ribbers such as above referred to as by means of an annular series of hooks adapted to be reciprocated in harmony with the movements of the needle cylinder or the cam ring according as one or the other moves in the operation of the machine. Other attempts have been made in the direction of providing grabs auxiliary to the main take-up whereby hooks or the like engage the fabric in the vertical zone containing the heel and toe pockets. There have been serious objections to these devices for various reasons the most important of which may be that they maul or break the yarn and tend to form holes in the fabric.

Referring to the acconuaanying drawings which are made a part hereof and on which similar reference characters indicate similar parts,

Figure 1 is an elevation of my device in working position with parts in section for clearness of illustration,

Figure 2, a view at right angles to Figure 1 showing the structure of the take-up, parts being broken away for greater clearness, and

Figure 3, a section on line 33 of Figure 1.

In the drawings reference character indicates the needle cylinder which in this instance is stationary, the needles 11 being operated by a revolving and oscillating cam ring in a manner well-known to those skilled in the art. The dial 12 is provided wit-h needles 13 cooperating with needles 11 to form a ribbed fabric, as for the leg of a stock- Beneath the needle cylinder is the takeup frame which is pivoted on a fixed part of the machine, consisting of approximately parallel members 14 and 15 secured to a cross member 16 pivotally supported in a bearing on a part 17 of the fixed frame of the machine. The bars 14 and 15 are further con nected by cross bars 18 and 19, all said parts being secured together by set screws shown at 20 whereby the parts may readily be as sembled or disassembled and may be adjusted relatively to one another.

A shaft 21 extends across the take-up frame and has secured thereto at its outer end a pulley 22 driven by a belt 23 which in turn is driven by a fixed pulley in usual manner so that the take-up acts only when the belt is taut but becomes less efl'ective as the take-up travels upward on the fabric and slackens the belt which finally ceases to operate when the belt becomes sufficiently slack and which resumes operation when sufficient fabric has been formed to permit the belt to tighten again.

A pinion 24 on the shaft 21 drives a gear 25 on a shaft 26. The shaft 26 is also provided at the inner side of the frame member 14 with a pinion 27 meshing with a pinion 28 on a parallel shaft 29. These shafts are provided respectively with sprocket-s 30 and. 31. Each shaft has mounted thereon near one end between its pinion 27 and its sprocket 30, an upright frame member consisting of a pair of bars 32 ant adjustably connected by screws 34 passing through a slot in one member and having threaded connection with the other. Near the other end of each of the shafts 26 and 29 similar uprights are supported comprising bars 35 and 36 connected in a manner similar to those previously described. A pair of uprights consisting of members 32, 33, 35 and 36 are connected at their upper ends by a pivot in the form of a screw 37 passing through one of the uprights and having threaded engagement with the other and the frame so constituted is swingable about one of the shafts 26 and 29 as a pivot while the other frame pivots on the other shaft. A roller 38 is supported on each screw 37 and a belt 39 is trained about the sprocket 31 and the corresponding roller 38, while a similar belt 40 is trained about sprocket 30 and the other roller 38. These belts are of the type known as sprocket belts, each one having transverse ribs formed by lengths of wire or the like bent about a run of the belt and firmly secured in place so as to engage between the teeth of the corresponding sprocket gear.

Each of the pivotally supported upright-s is provided with a laterally extended bracket 41 one of which brackets supports a screw 42 having a wing-nut 43, and the other has a coil spring 44 secured to its outer extremity. At their adjacent ends the spring 44 and the screw 42 are connected to each other in such a manner that the wing nut 43 serves for adjusting the tension of the spring. Preferably identical brackets are provided at the opposite sides of the ladder-like supports.

The bars 14 and 15 are hollow at their outer ends and are provided internally with springs 45 bearing against plugs 46 which in turn press against the ends of shaft 29, or against bearings or bushings surrounding said shaft. Screw-plugs 47 confine the spring and the springs 45 therefor act through the parts enumerated to press the belt 39 a ainst the belt 40 at the lower end of the take-up with a yielding action adjustable by means of plugs 47. As previously explained the tension of springs 44 is also adjustable, hence the pressure of the two belts against each other can be adjusted throughouttheir length. Furthermore, the supports and consequently the belts can separate at either end of the take-up independently of the other, thus allowing for passage of a thick place in the fabric, 0. g., a heel or toe pocket, without releasing the take-up from the fabric at other points.

It- Will be obvious to those skilled intlie art that various changes may be made in my device without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore I do not limit myself to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A take-up for circular knitting machines comprising a pair of belts having opposed runs engaging opposite sides of the fabric said belts at their upper ends extending into the needle cylinder, substantially as set forth.

2. In a take-up for circular knitting machines, a frame, parallel shafts on said frame, supports extending upward from said shafts and swingable there-on toward and from each other, sprockets journaled on said shafts, sprocket belts passing about said sprockets and about pulleys above them, means for driving said sprockets, intermeshing gears on said shafts and resilient means permitting the pulleys and sprockets to separate independently of each other, substantially as set forth.

3. In a take-up for fabrics, a pair of elongated supports, belts traveling about said supports said belts having parallel runs closely adjacent each other, means for driving said belts in synchronism, and means for yieldin gly moving said supports toward each other and means permitting the supports to recede from each other at either end independently of the other .end, substantially as set forth.

4. in a take-upfor circular knitting machines, a frame, parallel pivots on said frame, supports extending upward from said pivots and swingable thereon toward and from each other, drive sprockets on said pivots driving gearing for said sprockets, sprocket belts passing about said sprockets and about pulleys on said supports so that the pulleys can be introduced into a space too limited to admit the gearing, substantially as set forth.

5. In a take-up for circular knitting machines adapted to reach inside the needle cylinder and comprising a plurality of endless belts with opposed faces of adjacent runs engaging the fabric, the combination of driving means for said belts outside the needle cylinder and supporting rolls for the belts located inside the needle cylinder, said belts extending from the driving means and passing over said supporting rolls, substantially as set forth.

6. In a take-up for circular knitting machines comprising a pairof rolls inside the needle cylinder with the length of the rolls as small as the width of the fabric, the combination of driving means outside the needle cylinder and an endless work contacting belt extending from the driving means and passing around one of said rolls, substantially as set forth. j

7. In a take-up comprising rolls of a length approximately equal to the width of the work and located in a space so limited as not to permit gearing at the ends of the rolls, the combination of gearing remote from said limited space with an endless work engaging belt extending into the limited space and passing around one of said rolls, a floating support for said belt, and yielding means forcing the belt toward the work substantially as set forth.

8. In a take-up for circular knitting machines adapted to reach inside the needle cylinder and comprising a plurality of endless fabric engaging belts, the combination of driving means for said belts outside the needle cylinder and supporting rolls for the belts located inside the needle cylinder, said belts extending from the driving means and passing over said supporting rolls, substantially as set forth.

9. In a take-up for circular knitting machines, a frame, parallel pivots on said frame, supports extending upward from said pivots and swingable theron toward and from each other, drive sprockets on said pivots, driving gearing for said sprockets, sprocket belts passing about said sprockets and about ill) pulleys on said supports so that the pulleys of said swingable supports toward the other, can be introduced into a space too limited to substantially as set forth.

admit the gearing, intermeshing gears con- In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set 10 neeted to said drive sprockets, resilient means my hand at Nashville, Tennessee, this 1st day for moving a drive sprocket and its gear toof October, A. D. nineteen hundred and Ward the eo-operatingsprocket and gear, and twenty-four.

additional resilient means for moving one VILLIAM L. SMITH, JR. 

